Der Blogger

"Enough is enough!" "This can't go on!" "This has to stop!" These were among the comments that came through the blizzard of commentary after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County. We have heard these words before.

Wanderlust

As a travel destination, Germany has never been more popular. With tourist numbers forecast to rise for an eighth consecutive year, what is the country doing right to account for its thriving visitor numbers?

Akademia

For education experts, English language lessons have proven valuable in primary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia. But the Alternative for Germany’s state parliamentary group in NRW have a rather different view.

Essen & Trinken

Police in the city of Osnabrück had to clear crowds in front of a new döner kebab shop on Tuesday, after about 150 hungry people packed the street outside, eager to get their hands on a döner for only €0.01.

Germericana

Many Americans have German ancestors — and that's also the case for actress Meghan Markle, who will be marrying Prince Harry, himself a descendant of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a German dynasty.

Half of Terror Plots in Germany by “Refugees”

The report, by the Heritage Foundation think tank, found that attacks across Europe by foreign trained militants increased dramatically in 2016, following the height of the migrant influx, with Germany becoming a much more popular target.

“The increase in the threat to Germany is especially stark,” the report’s authors write. “There were no plots in Germany in 2014, and only two in 2015. In 2016, this increased eightfold.

“There is a straightforward reason for this: In 2015, Germany took in over 1 million refugees and 2016 saw a surge in plots involving refugees.”

Plots in Germany comprised just 5 per cent of those in Europe in 2015, shooting up to 27 per cent in 2016. In fact, the nation faced more plots in 2016 alone than in the decade and a half between 2000 and 2015, with civilian rather than government targets most common.

In total, 142 Islamism plots claimed 300 lives and more than 1,000 casualties, in 15 European nations, over the 29-month period studied by the think tank.

Across the continent, around 15 per cent of the plots (142) featured refugees and asylum seekers, implicated in either planning the attacks alone or as part of a larger cell.

In 2014 and 2015, there were just three plots by foreign trained attackers in Europe, all linked to Iraq, with the most prominent example being the Paris attacks.

In 2016, however, the continent was struck by 16 such plots by migrants and foreign fighters, 11 targeting Germany.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel suspended the Dublin regulations and effectively opened the nation’s borders in 2015. Since then, Germany has taken far more migrants than any other European nation.

Before 2016 – the year after around a million asylum seekers poured into the nation – Germany was not targeted by those trained abroad, with France and the UK facing the most attacks of this nature, the report explains.

Yet, during 2016, 60 per cent of all plots in Germany were conducted or planned by foreign trained militants, all of whom had fought or trained in Syria.

In 15 of the 22 (68 per cent) plots hatched in Germany since 2014, one of the cell’s perpetrators was in direct contact with a foreign terror group.

This is disproportionately high when compared to rest of the continent, in which only 64 of the 142 plots (45 per cent) had one or more members known to have been in contact with such groups.

“The main source of this threat is from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which has taken advantage of the refugee crisis in order to smuggle its operatives into Europe,” the report’s authors explained

Kultur

The German term "Heimat," often translated as "homeland," was long thought of as tacky, regressive, and even politically dubious. But since the election, German politicians across the spectrum are using it once again.

Das Kino

This month's Berlin film festival, Europe's first major cinema showcase in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations, will shine a light on sexual misconduct in the industry, its director said on Tuesday.

Gesundheit

In the run-up to international World Cancer Day on Sunday, experts have said that about half of all cancer cases in Germany could be prevented by a healthier lifestyle. Across the country, around 500,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year. But experts say things like exercise could cut this figure in half. “Movement can […]